‘Motion highlights crisis facing A&E services’ – Ritchie

SDLP MP for South Down Margaret Ritchie has tabled a Parliamentary Motion calling for the UK government to take urgent action over the state of A&E services.

Speaking from Westminster to Nerwry Times, Ritchie said, “This motion highlights the crisis facing A&E services in Northern Ireland.

“This crisis stems from the UK Government not putting adequate resources into the training, recruitment and retention of A&E health practitioners. These staff are required to work long and extremely unsocial hours in very demanding circumstances, and their pay and conditions should reflect that.

“Instead, due to under-investment going back to 2010 we face a drastic shortage of staff that cannot be made up quickly due to the time it takes to train a new A and E Doctor.

“The weekend closure of the Downe and Lagan Valley Hospitals by the Health Minister has exacerbated this problem. The demand these closures have put on other hospitals has already led to a critical situation developing at the Royal Victoria Hospital and patients are being put at risk by these decisions.

Ritchie added, “I have called for the Secretary of State to convene emergency talks with the UK and the Northern Ireland Health Minister to find a resolution to this problem.”

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Posted by Newry Times News on Jan 28 2014. Filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry